Celestion Creamback 75's - What's your Experience?

[Braciola]

* Inspired by another thread

Here's my Experience:

The Creamback 75 is a brash, sounding speaker in the mids, upper mids & high end.
I call it the speaker with no personality , because it sounds like a mish mosh combination of a vintage 30, g12h30, and greenback with their worst qualities rolled into one speaker
Besides being brash, I find notes getting smeared with the over abundance and overlapping mid/upper mid/ high frequencies - hard to describe, but it's like two lbs of Bologna shoved into a one pound sack.
Probably, my least favorite Celestion.

I made the mistake of ordering a brand new quad about a year and a half ago without ever hearing them in person (not that there were anywhere available for me to listen to.)
I figured they can't be too shabby if John Suhr/Pete Thorn & George from Metro liked them enough to use in their cabs (for the PT-100 Signature & the MetroPlex)

Boy was I wrong.
Loaded them into my SoneAge 4X12, and right out of the box..... nasty.
So, I pounded them for a week playing bass heavy club music into a 100 watt tube power amp to loosen them up a bit.
I then played a few very long, loud jams with the cab.
During the last jam, I started off with the Creamback 75 loaded cab, then switch over to a greenback/vintage 30 loaded StoneAge 4X12 cab & then a 2X12 loaded with Scumback M 65watt & H 65 watt speakers (using my Germino MGL50 & Bogner 20th Shiva)
Everyone in the room commented how nasty & brash the Creamback 75 cab sounded, and how sweet the Vintage 30/Greenback loaded 4X12 and Scumback loaded 2X12 sounded.
I even tried mixing the Creamback 75's with other speakers, to no avail.

Funny, I was talking with a Very popular "Marshall" style builder about the 65 & 75 Creabacks last year.
He knows I'm a bit of a speaker nerd (I had my own speaker reconing business back in the early 80's), so I tried to warn him about the 75, but he wanted to try them out for himself.
Fast forward two weeks later, he sends me a PM saying,......... and I quote....... "the 75's Creambacks are probably the most un-musicals speakers I've ever played."

 

[goddot]

I saw your previous thread on this... Marshall is stocking them in the Astoria combos and it sounded really good Maybe they are made to Marshall specs? Are they scooped? like gt75s?

 

[Braciola]

Are they scooped? like gt75s?

Scooped?
hmmm, guess I suck at descriptions

 

[reaiken]

I've posted this before, but here's my experience with Creambacks:

I bought several 12" speakers to try in our new 1x12 dual-ported cab, including the Creamback 65 and Creamback 75. We lined up all the (identical) cabinets and used a switch box to switch between the speakers on the fly, so we could choose the best sounding ones in a real A/B/C/D/E... shootout.

I had high hopes for the Creamback brothers, but was highly disappointed. The top two best-sounding speakers were the Greenback and Vintage 30 (I know, I normally hate V30s, but I guess old dogs can learn new speakers, as I loved it in this cab).

At the very bottom of the bunch was the Creamback 75. I couldn't believe how bad it sounded - all thin and buzzy, almost like a broken speaker. I wish I could have returned it for a refund or replacement, I can't believe this is representative of Celestion's finest, but I certainly wouldn't be quick to waste the money to try another, as others have had similar results. The Creamback 65 fared much better, right below the V30, but it was still a bit flat and not quite as "musical" sounding as the GB and V30, but that may improve with extended break-in.

Bear in mind, this was a statistically poor test, as only one sample of each speaker was used, but the things are quite expensive, and I didn't want to risk throwing away more money. At some point I may try another one, but I'm not too keen on the idea.

Another variable is the cabinet, they may not like ported cabs (although all the other speakers worked quite well in them), they may prefer 4x12s or closed-back unported cabs.

Also, the 75 sounded okay with clean tones, but horrid with distortion, so they may be okay for cleaner amps.

 

[guitar29]

I have one in my Kingsley Deluxe 32s and it is absolutely mind blowing. Nothing harsh or unmusical at all. I've also jumped other heads into the speaker as well and it sounded great no matter which amp I paired it up with.

 

[reaiken]

From the drastically different results, I wonder if there is a quality control issue with these things? Maybe those of us who had bad experiences should all swap our 75s with people who love theirs?

 

[GazzaBloom]

I use a Creamback 65 with a Victory V40 and it sounds great, very musical midrange.

These guys use Zilla cabs with Creamback 75s, they sounds great:

 

[ianblond]

More contoured than Scumback H75 , louder , more aggressive , maybe a bit too brash , yes , but with hum buckers quite nice.

 

[mlj_gear]

The Creamback 75 is a brash, sounding speaker in the mids, upper mids & high end.
I call it the speaker with no personality , because it sounds like a mish mosh combination of a vintage 30, g12h30, and greenback with their worst qualities rolled into one speaker
Besides being brash, I find notes getting smeared with the over abundance and overlapping mid/upper mid/ high frequencies - hard to describe, but it's like two lbs of Bologna shoved into a one pound sack.
Probably, my least favorite Celestion.

I quite like the G12H-75, and find it to be both articulate and gutsy without being overly bright, so... I guess our evaluations differ. It is pretty darn loud, so I guess it's brash in that sense!

 

[markstullkc]

You want the creamback M 65 watt.

The 75 watt is the H variant I believe. My least fav celestion is the heritage line.

 

[DiPa]

I have seen lots of great reviews on the CB 75s and a very few that did not like them. I own both the 75 and 65 CB speakers and actually like them. Someone here mentioned quality control and someone also pointed out a statistical valid sample size to really draw good conclusions, and I think it's just a matter of how we all hear differently, and to some this speaker may not be the one. I have invested in various cabs/ speakers as it makes a huge difference in tone and I find that it has works well for me as I can replace speakers on different Amps for the tone I am after. I don't know there is such a thing as the only perfect speaker.

 

[TubeStack]

User error.

 

[SuperReverb2]

Haven't played one myself, but I attended a gig last night where one was used. Sounded GREAT! Simon Jarrett (Kingsley Amps) had one in his Kingsley Regent 1 x 12 combo. His band Rocket Science plays original and classic Jazz, Blues, and Rock. Simon was using his Gibson Custom Shop 1958 ES-335 Reissue for most of night, but also used his original Fender 1964 Strat for one set as well. The speaker, Simon, and rest of the band sounded GREAT all night. Certainly didn't hear any of the aforementioned comments about unmusical, spikey, harsh, or too mid forward. Taking into consideration that Simon is a KILLER player, I thought the speaker sounded very well balanced, sat very well in the mix for the rhythm parts, and stood out very nicely for the leads. Simon had no problem pulling out some great sounding Carltonesque leads on hs 335 (neck and bridge) and his Strat sounded, well, like a great Strat should sound. Thought the speaker was outstanding in a 1 x 12 - band - gig situation and has me thinking seriously of trying it out myself.
On the flip side, I remember playing through one of the Celestion G12M-65 Creambacks that Simon received early last year. Liked the speaker quite a bit, but thought it needed to be in a 2 x 12 configuration to sound it's best. It seemed a little "small" sounding by itself, and I seem to remember Simon pairing it with a Greenback and an Alnico Gold on a few gigs.

 

[goddot]

Scooped?
hmmm, guess I suck at descriptions

Hey Dom , if these speakers are flatter in the mid eq they will sound like they have more top.. sort of like a g12h 30... This dip in the mids could be what you are hearing in the highs? just a thought

 

[Braciola]

Hey Dom , if these speakers are flatter in the mid eq they will sound like they have more top.. sort of like a g12h 30... This dip in the mids could be what you are hearing in the highs? just a thought

Definitely no dip in the mids on the CB 75's.
I wouldn't say the highs over power the mids/upper mids at all on this speaker, so when I say brash, I'm talking about mid frequencies on up........ evenly.

 

[Braciola]

You want the creamback M 65 watt.

The 75 watt is the H variant I believe. My least fav celestion is the heritage line.

Yes, I really like the CB 65 with some amps.
It's sort of like a high powered Greenie in tone without the "woolliness".
It's tighter, has better bottom end, and it's got better clarity.
The upper midrange is a bit laid back, but the mid frequencies that are there are very pleasing to the ear.

Right now I have a pair of CB 65's in a 2X12 that I'm using with a Germino MGL50, and they are a perfect match for this amp (which is plentiful in mids.)

 

[Tommy_G]

I never cared for my Mesa MC90 speakers...they had a scoop in the low mids..no body to them...no edge... dull on the top end....just blah sounding. I tried them with a few different 6L6s..6v6s..and some EH EL34s..the speakers were at the bottom.

Recently put a pair of Tungsol EL34Bs in my amp and the best sounding speaker I have for this amp is now the MC90. All the things the EL34B does well complements the voicing of the MC90.

Just proved to me once again that there is a right combination of guitar...amp...tubes..cab and speaker to get good tone... and if the tone isnt there it is because of a poor matchup of parts... not because any one part is at fault.

 

[ianblond]

Does Eminence CV75 have something in common with Creamback H75?

 

[Rod]

I'm with you Braciola and Randall....I hate those Creme 75's.. Don't care much for the 65 version either. My favorite old 1980 G12-65 sounds nothing like their Heritage G12-65 version either.
IMHO, WGS is building a slew of much more musical sounding speakers than what Celestion is building these days, all sub $100 range. ET-65, ET-90, Liberator 80, G12C-S, Reaper, Green Beret...
Certainly Celestion for the most part invented the Britsh sound of guitar loudspeakers, and I certainly appreciate their contributions to the electric guitar world. I started playing Marsalls in 1968...
All that being said, WGS has taken those standards and taken them to a higher level, built here in the USA...
I still love Celestion's Chinese Geenback though....

 

[Seth L]

I don't like any H magnet Celestions. Too loud, too bright, too harsh. CreambackM65 is the exact opposite. Great all around speaker.